Students play interactive game for a sustainable Utrecht

Do not be surprised when you see groups of students walking around in the city centre of Utrecht, staring at their smartphones, during the first two weeks of September. It is not the new Pokémon or Harry Potter craze. It is the Utrecht 2040 game where sustainability challenges are presented that can immediately be accepted by the players. In real life, in Utrecht.

Imagine this: an app on your smartphone lets you watch a miniature lecture of less than a minute long. Given by a professor at Utrecht University about, for example, the inclusive city. Using the same app, you will then be asked to take photos of what should certainly be preserved in the city in 2040. And you're not alone: hundreds of other students are playing the same game with you at the same time. And there are plenty of challenges that can be taken on afterwards.

The game Utrecht 2040 was developed by researchers from the Utrecht University’s Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, in collaboration with the game developers of IJsfontein.